Pocono is so fast even the IndyCar drivers couldn't believe it

Wednesday

Apr 10, 2013 at 11:22 AMApr 10, 2013 at 5:36 PM

Some speeds take the breath out of some of the most experienced race car drivers.Get four IndyCar drivers to chatter — half smiling, half “I can’t believe I just did that” — over high speeds and you’ve got something special.

MIKE KUHNS

LONG POND — Some speeds take the breath out of some of the most experienced race car drivers.Get four IndyCar drivers to chatter — half smiling, half “I can’t believe I just did that” — over high speeds and you’ve got something special.

Wednesday’s Firestone tire test at the 2.5-mile triangle at Pocono Raceway was an eye-opener for drivers Will Power, Dario Franchitti, Marco Andretti and Simon Pagenaud.

The foursome and their teams came to the raceway as a precursor to the Pocono IndyCar 400 set for July 7. It will be the first IndyCar race since Danny Sullivan won at Pocono on Aug. 20, 1989.

It didn’t take many laps for the drivers to figure out Pocono was going to push their limits.

“My eyeballs were going into the corner, but my helmet was still down there,” Pagenaud said. “I think I actually grabbed the brakes in the first corners because it was a bit scary.”

Drivers were hitting upwards of 230 mph on the long straightaway, driving into Turn 1. Even for the drivers, the turn defied logic of how fast they could get the car through the first corner.

The repaved surface of Pocono and temperatures in the mid 60s made for perfect conditions, allowing drivers to hit speeds they wouldn’t normally reach on other tracks.

Emerson Fittipaldi’s record pole run of 211.4 mph set in 1989 is expected to readily fall this summer.Power said the track was fast and smooth and “very nice actually.” Not all the drivers felt so comfortable early in the day.

“I had some preconceived ideas having driven the Cup car,” Franchitti said, who had raced at Pocono in NASCAR. “My initial thoughts weren’t quite as polite as Will’s. My first thought was holy s---.”

All IndyCar drivers will return on Thursday July 4 to test again for the July 7 race.

“This was a bumpy old place before. I don’t need to tell you guys that,” Franchitti said. “Now it’s very, very smooth. There’s obviously been a great deal of investment in the track, the SAFER barrier in different places as well. That’s really allowed us as IndyCar as a group to come back here. It’s very much appreciated.

“All those investments have been made. I said at the time to run an IndyCar around here would be a blast, and it is.”